Escape Artists
The Arcade => Polling Place => Topic started by: Swamp on October 13, 2010, 03:23:55 AM
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This is it! The main event! It has taken nearly a year to progress from speculation to nomination to the primary rounds, the playoffs and the quarter/semi finals. And now we must choose The Best Horror Movie Ever. We have:
The Shining (1980) - directed by Stanley Kubrick, and starring Jack Nicholson, Shelley Duvall, and Danny Lloyd, based on a book by Stephen King. It has previously beaten Hellraiser, The Exorcist, and The Thing.
VS.
Alien (1979) - directed by Ridley Scott, and starring Sigourney Weaver, Tom Skerritt, and John Hurt. It has previously beaten 28 Days Later, Se7en, and Psycho.
Who will claim the top prize?
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Sorry. I just don't like Stephen King terribly much.
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Gotta go with Alien. It's got some of my favorite movie lines ever - "Somebody wake up Hicks" and was positively groundbreaking in it's day.
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Gotta go with Alien. It's got some of my favorite movie lines ever - "Somebody wake up Hicks" and was positively groundbreaking in it's day.
That's "Aliens." "Alien" is the good *horror* movie. "Aliens" was the good *action* movie.
Mod: fixed emphasis
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Oh this is a tough choice to make. As far as movies go, I enjoyed Alien more, but The Shining scared the pants off me!
I have to go with The Shining, for successfully freaking me out!
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That's "Aliens." "Alien" is the good *horror* movie. "Aliens" was the good *action* movie.
Mod: fixed emphasis
*nod* You're correct, and that's what I get for posting without enough tea in me...
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What a hard choice. On most days, I would have gone with "The Shining", but then I got to thinking about what a terrible casting choice Shelley Duvall was.
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Damn, this is turning out to be close! Somehow this makes me want to do a mashup, maybe the setting of The Shining, but with Jack Nicholson replaced by a xenomorph.
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Quote from the Best Horror Movie Ever:
"Final report of the commercial starship Nostromo, third officer reporting. The other members of the crew, Kane, Lambert, Parker, Brett, Ash and Captain Dallas, are dead. Cargo and ship destroyed. I should reach the frontier in about six weeks. With a little luck, the network will pick me up. This is Ripley, last survivor of the Nostromo, signing off. ... Come on, cat." - Ripley, Alien
Yes, Alien takes top prize! Woot! Funny thing is I didn't even vote this round. When it came down to it, I was really conflicted about which one I considered the best. From the beginning, I have been waving a banner for The Shining, which I really do love, and consider a must-see horror movie. The acting was great (even Shelley Duvall IMO); the mood created was intense and creepy; the over-all scope is grand, and the impressions left in the mind are indelible. So why didn't I vote for it?
There is something to be said about the close quarters and isolation of space that makes the the terror of Alien quite striking. From the facehugger and its resultant brood to the showdown with the Xenomorph, the elements come together for quite good horror. But it's more than just a creature feature. The mental distress is palpable; and the charachter interaction puts an extra edge on everything. Honestly, seeing Ash spew milk blood everywhere and speak from a detached head was just as disturbing to me as the chest-busting scene. (sorry for any spoilers, but you really should have watched these movies already ;) ) Oh, yeah, the acting too, was excellent, even by minor characters.
So, yeah, I was undecided. In my book, these would be a tie. It turns out my vote would not have made a difference in the result anyway. If I had voted for The Shining, I would have had to withdraw my vote to break the tie. If I had voted for Alien, it would have won by two votes instead of one.
Overall, a great prize fight and a fantastic journey through the motion picture genre of horror. Thanks everyone for sharing your opinion and knowlegde along the way. I learned a lot and discovered some movies that I had not seen before.
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Need some October viewing ideas? Here is the final rankings of the entire contest:
#1 Alien (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0078748/)
#2 The Shining (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0081505/)
#3 - #4 (in no particular order)
Psycho (original) (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0054215/)
The Thing (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0084787/)
#5 - #8 (in no particular order)
The Exorcist (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0070047/)
Silence of the Lambs (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0102926/)
Se7en (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0114369/)
The Sixth Sense (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0167404/)
#9 - #16 (in no particular order)
Nosferatu (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0013442/)
Hellraiser (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0093177/)
The Omen (original) (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0075005/)
Poltergeist (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0084516/)
28 Days Later (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0289043/)
Pan's Labrinth (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0464141/)
The Others (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0230600/)
The Birds (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0056869/)
#17 - #20 (in no particular order)
VideoDrome (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0086541/)
[REC] (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1038988/)
Scream (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0117571/)
Creepshow (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0083767/)
#21 - #100 (in no particular order)
Invasion of the Body Snatchers (original) (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0049366/)
Ginger Snaps (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0210070/)
Amitiville Horror (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0078767/)
The Lost Boys (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0093437/)
Black Sabbath (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Sabbath_(film))
The Mummy (original) (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0023245/)
The Picture of Dorian Gray (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0037988/)
The Howling (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0082533/)
The Innocents (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0055018/)
Phantasm (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0079714/)
The Orphanage (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0464141/)
Jurassic Park (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0107290/)
Friday the 13th (original) (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0080761/)
Texas Chainsaw Massacre (original) (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0072271/)
Near Dark (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0093605/)
The Descent (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0435625/)
Pet Cemetary (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0098084/)
Dead Ringers (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0094964/)
Uzamaki (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0244870/)
Audition (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0235198/)
Hostel (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0450278/)
War of the Worlds (2005) (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0407304/)
Altered States (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0080360/)
The Devil's Backbone (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0256009/)
Jacob's Ladder (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0099871/)
IT (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0099864/)
Final Destination (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0195714/)
Let's Scare Jessica to Death (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0067341/)
Dawn of the Dead (original) (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0077402/)
Mother Lode (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0084359/)
Mothman Prophecies (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0265349/)
The Fourth Kind (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1220198/)
Frankenstein (original) (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0021884/)
Cemetery Man (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0109592/)
Rosemary's Baby (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0063522/)
Session 9 (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0261983/)
Carrie (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0074285/)
Witchfinder General (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0063285/)
An American Werewolf in London (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0082010/)
Dagon (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0264508/)
Kwaidan (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0058279/)
The Host (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0468492/)
Children of the Corn (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0087050/)
The Mist (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0884328/)
Frailty (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0264616/)
They (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0283632/)
Night of the Living Dead (original) (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0063350/)
Village of the Damned (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0054443/)
The Haunting (original) (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0057129/)
Jaws (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0073195/)
Requiem for a Dream (http://www.imdb.com/video/screenplay/vi2156069145/)
The Grudge (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0391198/)
Targets (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0063671/)
Nightmare on Elm Street (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0087800/)
Re-Animator (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0089885/)
Ghost Story (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0082449/)
Blair Witch Project (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0185937/)
Black Sunday (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0075765/)
The Fly (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0091064/)
The Evil Dead (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0083907/)
The Ring (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0298130/)
Halloween (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0077651/)
Cloverfield (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1060277/)
Bram Stoker's Dracula (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0103874/)
Martin (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0077914/)
Identity (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0309698/)
The Stepfrod Wives (original) (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0073747/)
Cat People (original) (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0034587/)
Salem's Lot (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0079844/)
Don't Look Now (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0069995/)
Suspiria (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0076786/)
The Wicker man (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0070917/)
Paranormal Activity (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1179904/)
Saw (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0387564/)
Parasite (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0084472/)
Black Christmas (original) (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0071222/)
Hell High (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0091192/)
It's Alive (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0071675/)
Onibaba (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0058430/)
Freaks (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0022913/)